UK Creative Industries Launch ‘Make it Fair’ Campaign Against AI Content Theft

The UK’s creative industries have today launched a bold new campaign – Make it Fair – to highlight how AI firms are exploiting British creative content without permission or payment, as the government’s consultation, closing today, proposes to weaken copyright protections.

The ‘Make it Fair’ campaign was developed to raise awareness among the British public about the existential threat posed to the creative industries from generative AI models, many of which scrape creative content from the internet without permission, acknowledgement, and, critically, without payment.

Britain’s creative sector contributes over £120 billion a year to the economy, spanning journalists, authors, designers, musicians, and film-makers. If this practice continues unchecked, the consequences for these individuals and businesses will be devastating, or worse still, if the government legitimises this content theft.

On 25 February, which is the last day of the government’s consultation, regional and national daily news brands are running the same cover wrap and homepage takeover.

The campaign cover wrap states: “MAKE IT FAIR: The government wants to change the UK’s laws to favour big tech platforms so they can use British creative content to power their AI models without our permission or payment. Let’s protect the creative industries – it’s only fair.”

Weekly titles will run the campaign over the coming week, calling on the British public to write to their MPs in support of the creative industries and demand stronger protections for UK creators.

Launching the campaign today, Owen Meredith, CEO of News Media Association, said: “We already have gold-standard copyright laws in the UK. They have underpinned growth and job creation in the creative economy across the UK – supporting some of the world’s greatest creators – artists, authors, journalists, scriptwriters, singers and songwriters to name but a few.

“And for a healthy democratic society, copyright is fundamental to publishers’ ability to invest in trusted quality journalism. The only thing which needs affirming is that these laws also apply to AI, and transparency requirements should be introduced to allow creators to understand when their content is being used. Instead, the government proposes to weaken the law and essentially make it legal to steal content.

“There will be no AI innovation without the high-quality content that is the essential fuel for AI models. We’re appealing to the great British public to get behind our ‘Make it Fair’ campaign and call on the government to guarantee creatives are able to secure proper financial reward from AI firms to ensure a sustainable future for both AI and the creative industries.”

Launching a music industry campaign to coincide with the ‘Make it Fair’ campaign, composer Ed Newton-Rex said: “1,000 UK musicians released a joint album today, recordings of empty studios, calling on the government to change course or risk empty studios becoming the norm. The government’s proposals would hand the life’s work of the UK’s talented creators – its musicians, its writers, its artists – to AI companies, for free. The government must change course and make it fair.”

Supporters of the campaign include Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Kate Mosse, Paloma Faith, Dua Lipa, and many more.